1 00:00:02,033 --> 00:00:03,733 JUDY WOODRUFF: As we reported earlier, most Florida counties have finished the machine 2 00:00:03,733 --> 00:00:07,166 vote recount in three statewide elections today. 3 00:00:07,166 --> 00:00:12,166 In the Senate race, incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson trails Republican challenger Rick Scott 4 00:00:12,900 --> 00:00:15,066 by nearly 13,000 votes. 5 00:00:15,066 --> 00:00:20,066 That is still within the 0.25 percent that triggers a hand recount. 6 00:00:22,033 --> 00:00:24,833 The "NewsHour"'s digital politics editor, Dan Bush, has been in South Florida watching 7 00:00:24,833 --> 00:00:26,233 all this up close. 8 00:00:26,233 --> 00:00:27,733 And he joins me now. 9 00:00:27,733 --> 00:00:29,700 Hello to you, Dan. 10 00:00:29,700 --> 00:00:33,766 So, first of all, as we said earlier, it was just Palm Beach County that seemed to have 11 00:00:33,766 --> 00:00:35,366 missed the deadline. 12 00:00:35,366 --> 00:00:37,300 But now we're hearing it may have been Broward County as well. 13 00:00:37,300 --> 00:00:38,366 What do we know about that? 14 00:00:38,366 --> 00:00:40,500 DANIEL BUSH: That's right, Judy. 15 00:00:40,500 --> 00:00:45,100 We're just hearing reports now that Broward County missed the reporting deadline to finish 16 00:00:45,100 --> 00:00:50,066 the machine recount, which was 3:00 p.m. today, by about two minutes, which still means that 17 00:00:51,633 --> 00:00:55,400 65 of Florida's 67 counties finished the machine recount on time. 18 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:57,900 JUDY WOODRUFF: So let's talk about the Senate race. 19 00:00:57,900 --> 00:01:02,866 As we just said, it looks like the separation between Bill Nelson and Rick Scott is within 20 00:01:04,266 --> 00:01:07,833 that 0.25 percent margin, which triggers a hand recount. 21 00:01:07,833 --> 00:01:09,033 So what happens now? 22 00:01:09,033 --> 00:01:11,333 DANIEL BUSH: That's right, Judy. 23 00:01:11,333 --> 00:01:16,333 So the recount resulted in a -- in an outcome that was under that 0.25 margin that you noted, 24 00:01:18,566 --> 00:01:21,600 a law put in place in the state after the 2000 election. 25 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:23,633 That triggers the hand recount. 26 00:01:23,633 --> 00:01:26,366 That's starting tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. sharp. 27 00:01:26,366 --> 00:01:31,166 And an election official told me in Broward County a little while ago that it's supposed 28 00:01:31,166 --> 00:01:36,066 to start right on time, more or less, and the deadline for that is November 18, so just 29 00:01:36,066 --> 00:01:41,066 a couple of days for them to go through a universe of tens of thousands of votes, 42,000 30 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,533 everywhere in Florida, and then an additional set from Broward County of undervotes and 31 00:01:46,533 --> 00:01:48,533 overvotes. 32 00:01:48,533 --> 00:01:52,433 Those are votes where -- ballots where voters either voted for multiple candidates in a 33 00:01:52,433 --> 00:01:54,466 single race or left it blank. 34 00:01:54,466 --> 00:01:57,666 Those are the votes that officials are going to be going through hand by hand in the next 35 00:01:57,666 --> 00:02:00,366 couple days. 36 00:02:00,366 --> 00:02:03,633 JUDY WOODRUFF: So, now, separately from this, Dan, there has been a lawsuit filed over provisional 37 00:02:04,366 --> 00:02:05,400 and mail-in ballots. 38 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:07,433 Tell us where that stands. 39 00:02:07,433 --> 00:02:11,900 DANIEL BUSH: So, Democratic incumbent Senator Bill Nelson and the Florida Democratic Party 40 00:02:14,500 --> 00:02:17,933 filed a lawsuit in federal government challenging a state law that requires signatures on provisional 41 00:02:20,300 --> 00:02:24,366 ballots and mail-in ballots to match the signatures in state voter registration records, saying 42 00:02:26,300 --> 00:02:30,266 that it was unconstitutional, violated equal protection rights, and makes it harder for 43 00:02:30,266 --> 00:02:32,333 voters to vote. 44 00:02:32,333 --> 00:02:36,833 And a judge just this morning issued a narrow ruling, allowing the state to go back and 45 00:02:36,833 --> 00:02:41,833 review about 4,000 of these ballots to see whether or not they should be recounted. 46 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:46,900 But Democrats had hoped for a broader ruling, potentially something that would strike down 47 00:02:46,900 --> 00:02:51,866 the existing state law or even require the state to automatically look at, you know, 48 00:02:52,633 --> 00:02:54,633 all of these votes. 49 00:02:54,633 --> 00:02:55,900 That didn't happen. 50 00:02:55,900 --> 00:02:58,066 So we will have to see where it goes from here. 51 00:02:58,066 --> 00:03:02,600 And as soon as the ruling came out, Republican Governor Rick Scott, running for the Senate 52 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:05,700 seat in Florida, appealed the ruling. 53 00:03:05,700 --> 00:03:07,866 That's now going to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. 54 00:03:07,866 --> 00:03:09,866 We will see where it goes from there. 55 00:03:09,866 --> 00:03:13,200 JUDY WOODRUFF: So, now I want you to focus for just a moment on the governor's race, 56 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:17,500 Republican Ron DeSantis, Democrat Andrew Gillum. 57 00:03:17,500 --> 00:03:18,866 Recount there as well. 58 00:03:18,866 --> 00:03:20,200 Where does that one stand? 59 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:22,200 DANIEL BUSH: Yes. 60 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,966 So, on the governor's side, DeSantis is still leading Gillum by about 34,000 votes, which 61 00:03:27,700 --> 00:03:29,866 is a 0.41 margin. 62 00:03:29,866 --> 00:03:34,866 So he didn't -- Gillum wasn't able to close the gap enough to trigger a hand recount. 63 00:03:36,766 --> 00:03:40,933 We saw DeSantis just a little while ago saying that the results were clear. 64 00:03:40,933 --> 00:03:45,333 We're still waiting to hear from Gillum, but it appears that that race is where it is, 65 00:03:45,333 --> 00:03:49,066 and that DeSantis will be certified as the winner, perhaps as early as next week. 66 00:03:49,066 --> 00:03:52,366 JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, Dan, we know you have been spending time there around the Broward 67 00:03:52,366 --> 00:03:55,233 County election supervisor's office. 68 00:03:55,233 --> 00:03:56,500 Tell us what's going on there. 69 00:03:56,500 --> 00:03:58,666 There have been protests outside. 70 00:03:58,666 --> 00:04:00,666 What is the scene there? 71 00:04:00,666 --> 00:04:04,866 DANIEL BUSH: So, inside, you have a couple of dozen election workers who in the last 72 00:04:04,866 --> 00:04:09,233 several days have been working around the clock to do this machine recount, to feed 73 00:04:09,233 --> 00:04:12,900 the ballots into the machines and let that process play out. 74 00:04:12,900 --> 00:04:17,900 Meanwhile, outside, there have been Republican protests, Democratic protests around this 75 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:20,866 process. 76 00:04:20,866 --> 00:04:23,433 A lot of Republicans, Judy, that I spoke to, said -- a lot of voters -- said they don't 77 00:04:23,433 --> 00:04:24,900 trust these results. 78 00:04:24,900 --> 00:04:27,033 They feel that there was suspicious activity. 79 00:04:27,033 --> 00:04:32,033 They said that their view of the election is shaped by President Donald Trump, who has 80 00:04:34,066 --> 00:04:37,400 focused on Florida, and disparaged the recount process, called for it to be over before all 81 00:04:38,933 --> 00:04:40,900 of the votes were received. 82 00:04:40,900 --> 00:04:44,500 On the other side, you have Democrats saying that they don't believe these allegations 83 00:04:44,500 --> 00:04:49,133 of fraud, that they want all of the votes to be counted, and that the rules on the books 84 00:04:49,133 --> 00:04:52,433 as they stand now make it harder for people to vote. 85 00:04:52,433 --> 00:04:57,433 So you have two wildly different views of this election and whether or not the results 86 00:04:58,166 --> 00:05:00,666 should be trusted. 87 00:05:00,666 --> 00:05:03,700 JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, political overlay always when these recounts happen, and -- but a spotlight 88 00:05:05,700 --> 00:05:08,233 right there as they count these votes. 89 00:05:08,233 --> 00:05:11,600 Dan Bush, reporting for us from Florida, thank you. 90 00:05:12,333 --> 00:05:13,666 DANIEL BUSH: Thank you.